Film marking apparatus



` May 7, 1940. A. w. TONDREAU44 2,199,764

' FILM MARKING APPARATUS l -Filed Nov. 12', 1938 ATTORNEY.

mama my 1, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FILM MARKING APPARATUS Application November 12, 1938, Serial No. 239,942

6 Claims.

This invention relates to film marking apparatus and has particular reference to apparatus for printing identification marks on motion picture lxn.

In printing motion picture lm, especially the sound track thereof, very critical adjustment of the printing machines vis necessary Vi-n order to obtain best results. The slightest amount of loose play or misalignment in any o-f the variousfilm driving or'guiding elements of the printlng machines, as well as the optical systems therefor, may be sufficient to cause relative misalignment betweent'he light sensitive film being printed and the developed printing film with consequent distortion of the images being printed.

Furthermore, due to wear, vibration, etc., frequent readjustment and repair are necessary to maintain the printing machines in correct adjustment. The identity of the particular printing machine requiring such adjustment or repair is frequently lost since the nlm, after being printed, is generally first developed, in the case of printed sound track, and is thereafter run through a sound reproducer before the needfor such adjustment or repair is noticed. Heretofore, the identication of the particular printing machine employed to print a certain strip of film was obtained by allocating a different number or symbol to each machine and having the operator mark at the beginning or end of that strip the particular number or symbol for that machine. This was not entirely satisfactory because of the tendency of the operator to forget to place such identification mark on the film. Further, since the various separately printed film strips are often inter-cut with each other,

4or portionstliereof deleted, the above identification marks are often lost. v

The present invention overcomes the above mentioned defects by automatically exposing identication marks on a lm strip simultaneously with the printing of the film images thereon. These identification marks are exposed at f short, vregularly spaced intervals whereby sections of the lm strip may be either inter-cut with other film strip sections or deleted entirely without losing the identification of the particular printing machine employed to print the same.

The invention is also useful in other relations 4for marking film.

For details of the invention, reference may be had to the accompanying drawing wherein:

Fig. 1 is a sectional plan view through a printing machine embodying the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view through the printing machine and is taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary, sectional view through the optical system for printing the 5 sound track and identification marks on a film and is taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. 2. u

Fig; 4 is a fragmentary view of the film drum showing the identification mark printing apertures.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary, sectional view of thev optical system of an alternate form of identification printing device.

Referring in particular to Figs. i and 2, the invention is shown as being incorporated in a sound track printing machine wherein a developed motion picture film I0 having a sound trackthereon (with or without picture images) and a light sensitive film Il are run in contact with each other over a hollow printing drum or sprocket generally indicated at I2. Drum I2 comprises a disc member I3 integrally formed on a shaft I4 and having a series of spaced film engaging sprocket teeth I5 around the edge thereof. An annular flange I6 is secured to the member I5 by screws I8' to support the picture portion of the films traveling thereover. The flange I5 extends across the entire picture portion of the' films and terminates at the inner edge of the sound track of film It.

Shaft I4 is .journalled in a bearing member I1 mounted in a bore I8 formed transversely through the printer' casing I9, and is continuously driven in a suitable manner from a printer motor (not shown).

The sprocket perforation edges of the two films i0 and II adjacent the sound track portions thereof are supported by a stationary annular guide member 2i secured 'itiin the bore it by screws 22. 'I'he film guiding periphery ci the guide member 2l is of the same diameter as that of the ange I6. The edge of guide member 2|, adjacent the outer-edge of the flange I6 extends to the outer edge of the sound track of iilm I0. Thus the drum I2 and guide member 2l restrict any light passing therebetween to the sound track 'area of the film I0.

As shown in Fig. 2, the film I0, after passing from a supply reel and feed sprocket (not shown) is passed over a guide roller 23, thence over a guide plate 24 secured to the printer casing I9 in an opening 2'6. Plate 24 is tangentially aligned with the periphery of drum I2. Film I0 thence passes onto the aligned peripheries of drum I2 and member 2|. On leaving the drumIZ and mi` member 2|,thefilmllpassesoveraseonndguide platellsecuredtotheprintingcaaimllin opening 2l.

Thelight sensitivefilm il afterpassimmn aslmplyreelandfeedspmcket (notahown) is passed over, a guide roller 2l and thence in cons"ation roller ll is provided directly opposite the prin orally indicated at Il which is mounted on Tofurther obtain an intimate contactbetween theiilms Il and H at theprlntingpointapad ing point. Roller Il rides on the illm Il over both the ange Il of drum I! and the nlm guiding periphery of member'll. Roller 80 is rotatabLv mounted in a self-aligning mount gentransversely extending shaft l! for movemen about a horizontal axis. against theiilm Ii byatension springll'intermediate the upper end of a rod ofthemount 3|,andaprojeetionutending upwardly from a gate member II. Gate member Il is pivotally mounted by means of a pinto'the casing Il,permittingtheaa.me. including the roller 3l, to be moved awayfrom the iilm Il for threading purposes. A snap-over spring arrangement 'I1 connected between a dependinglugllongatememberllandasta tionary support (not shown) on the casing Il isprovidedtohold thegatemenberlllndthm open or closed position.

Thesoundtrackofthetilm llisprintedon the nlm Il by lan optical system generally a cylindrical optical assenbly tube Il. A printing lamp Il 'mounted in an'encloaed lamp housinglliscarriedatoneendoftuben.

The tube/il is mounted for transverse and rotatable movement in an end cover plate I2 eiclosing the bore Il. Plate l! is secured to the printing casing Il by bolts and ll' through elongated parallel slots u and ll', xespeetively, in the plate I2 and are threaded in thecasing Il. Bylooseningtheaerewslland Il' the end plate 42 and tube I. carrying lmnp ll may be transversely adjusted. The habe Il isslidablymountedinabushingllsecnredin an opening formed in the end plate I! permittlngtub'e3ltobeadjusted=; and rotatably. A set screw threaded in Il andadaptedtobearagalustthetubeis grovidcd to 'lock tube l! in any desired posion. vlteferringto Fig.3,theopticalavstemoftube I! comprises, in addition to a slit manber and condenser lens (not shown) a color filter Il and a pair of objective lenses Il. lames Il are mounted -in a forward extension Il' of tube Il. A right angle prism Il carried by a mism mount 5l is supported in front of 4the objective lem Il to deiiect the slit of light projected by the lens Il at right angles onto the sound track of iilm il. Prismmount Il hasaboreextelllingther through andiltted over the reduced cylindrical Il, fos'lningpart ,I

eidportionlloithelenstubeextensionll'. thuspermittingtheprism lltoberotatabiyadjustedand/orlateraliyadjustedinadirection paralieltotheopticalaxisoftubell. Asetscrew threaded in moimt Il, is provided to lock themount Il in any deairedposition. Theprism l0 is clamped on the mount Il by.a lamp supporting member Il through screws Il which extmd through member I4 and `are mounted in apertures formed in projections Il formed integrally with the lens mount 8| and extending on opposite sides of the prism il. llemberllhasaborethereinthroughwhich extends a cylindrical light tube Il. Light tube Il, extending therefrom the path of travel of an formed in drum I2.` Aperture I1 is coextensive with one or more radially extending holes Il opening intoA the outer periphery of drum Il intermediate adjacent sprocket teeth Il as shown in ll'ig. 4. These holes Il may be of different diapesor,ifdesired,maybeintheformof numbers or letters. A small lamp Il is provided in a socket member Il molmted in the tube Il Y and insulated therefrom byan insulating sleeve 0I. Thus. it will be seen that the tube Il and extension Il thereof serve to convey light from lamp Il to the aperture Il while preventing any light therefrom from striking the films Il and Il intermediate the adjacent edges of the drum I2 and guide member 2|.

An electric terminal l! is grounded to the socket member 6l and is connected by a conductor il to a suitable source of current. A second electric terminal M insulated from .the socket Il by an insulating sleeve Il and washer contacts the end terminal of lamp l! and is also connected to the source of current by conductor Il. Conductors and Il extend through an aperture I1 (Pig. 1) in the end plate 42.

A set screw Ulis threaded through the lamp the walls of both tube Il and insulating sleeve Il, the set screw l also serves to lock the socket member 60 in any adjusted position within the tube 56.

In adiusting the optical system, the set screw isfirstloosenedtopermitthetubelltobe contacting surfaces Aofiilms Il and Ii. 'Iheset screw 6l in lamp supporting member Il is then unloosened to permit the tube Il to be correctly aligned relative to the opening I1 and inner surfaces of drum I2. Furthermore. while screw Il is released, the socket member il may be adjusted to correctly align lamp Il relative to the light passage in tube Il and the extension Il thereof.

It willbe seen from the above ldescription that, while the sound track is being continuously printed on the hn Il, identification marks deiined by the apertures Il sprocket teeth Il will be printed onto the nlm Il intermediate the rocket perforations thereof at regularly spaced intervals. the spacing of opening between the which is determined by the circumference of u the stationary ring member 2|'.

drum I2. It should be borne in mind that va negative film as at l is generally transparent intermediate the sprocket perforations, thereby permitting the identification marks to be printed therethrough onto the light sensitive film l I.

By varying the number of apertures 58 or the cross sectional shapes thereof in different printing machines, the particular printing machine employed to print a certain strip of lm may be readily determined on -inspection of the film after it is developed. Furthermore, since these identification marks are printed alongthe film at regularly spaced short intervals, i. e., twelve inches apart, the film may be intercut with other strips of film, or portions of that strip-may be deleted without losing the identification of theA particular printing machine employed to print the same.

An alternate form of identification mark fogging device adapted to be employed in the printer above described, is illustrated in Fig. 5. In this case, the prism 50' is secured upon a mount similar to that of 50, by a nat plate 10. Plate secured to spaced projections, lone of which is shown by the dotted lines 56 extending from the mount 5|' on opposite sides of prism 50 by screws 1I. In this case, a-small lamp 12 is mounted in an insulated socket 13 threaded into a tubular member 14. Member 14 is securely mounted on the end of a bracket 15 Y in the form of a metal strip, the other end of bracket 15 being mounted on a block 16 forming part of the optical tube assembly 39a and supporting a fil-ter 4B. The member 14 has a bore 11 at the front .thereof and in line with lamp 12 to direct a beam of light therefrom. The member 14 is directed downwardly toward the path of movement of one or more apertures 58' extending intermediate the various spaced sprocket teeth l5 in a manner similar to apertures 58 described in connection with Figs. 1 to 4, inclusive. A shield 18 is suitably welded, or otherwise attached to the member 14 to form a light shield to prevent the light projected by the lamp 12 from reaching the film I0 at the portion thereof intermediate the inner edges of the drum I2' and shield 18 is formed concentric with the inner surface of the drum I2 and lies closely adjacent thereto so as to reduce the amount of light passing therebetween or, atleast to restrict any light passing therebetween in a path away from the surface of filmr l0 extending over the opening adjacent edges of drum I2' and guide ring mem# ber 2|.

The use of the identification marking feature of the invention as applied to a contact printer is disclosed and claimed in my co-pending application Serial No. 230,523, led September 1'1,

1938 for Contact printer of which my present application is a continuation in part.

lIt will be seen from the above description that the invention provides a. simple automatic means of providing printer identification marks on a film being printed. Furthermore, althoughthe invention has been described in its preferred The edge 19 of form in connection with a contact sound track printing machine, it may also be -applied to a printing machine for printing either pictures or both pictures and sound track on a motion picture film without departing from the `spirit of the appended claims. Also, the broad aspects of the invention may be applied to other motion picture film exposing apparatus wherein alight sensitive film is caused to travel over a rotatable member.

Also, the marks exposed on the film, instead of serving to identify the particular ymachine handling the film, may serve to indicate any other desired information.

I claim:

1. Film marking apparatus comprising a rotatable member having a cylindrical anged portion open at one end thereof and adapted to support a film with a portion thereof overhanging said flanged portion, means for rotatably supporting said member for rotation about the axis` of said cylindrical portion, said member having an aperture therein, means for directing a beam of light through said aperture from within said flanged portion to the film, and means for preventing said light from striking said overhanging portion of said film.

2. Film marking apparatus according to claim l comprising sprocket teeth on said member, said aperture forming an opening on the periphery of said member intermediate two of said sprocket teeth.

3. Film marking apparatus comprising a rotatable member having a cylindrical fianged portion adapted lto support a film with a portion thereof overhanging said flanged portion, means for rotatably supporting said member for rotation about the axis of said cylindrical portion and means associated with said cylindrical -portion for exposing an identification mark on the edge of the film from within said flanged portion and means preventing exposure of said overhanging portion of said film from said last mentioned means.

4. FilmY marking apparatus comprising a rotatable hollow film guiding member adapted to light transmitting passage therein, said member extending within said interior of said lm guiding member, a lamp in said tubular member, and means whereby said tubular member may be adjusted to align the passage thereof with the path of movement of said aperture and to prevent light from said lamp from exposing hanging portion of said film.

5. Film marking apparatus according to claim 4 comprising common means for locking said said overlamp and said tubular member in position.

6. Film marking apparatus according to claim 4 comprising means whereby said lamp may be adjusted in said tubular member.

. AUBERT W. T ONDREAU. 

